SP Metro Trip Time

Travel time on the São Paulo Metro lines

The São Paulo Metro runs 6 lines today: 1-Blue, 2-Green, 3-Red, 4-Yellow (concession ViaQuatro), 5-Lilac (concession ViaMobilidade) and 15-Silver (monorail). Add the CPTM trains and ViaMobilidade lines 8-Diamond and 9-Emerald, and the whole system carries around 4.4 million passengers per business day — the largest urban rail network in South America. For a first pass at travel time on a line, try stations × dwellTime + (stations - 1) × interStationTime.

At peak, Line 4-Yellow (fully automated, CBTC) sends a train every 90 seconds; off-peak on Line 15 the wait stretches to about 5 minutes. The fare integrated with the bus is R$ 5.00 on the Bilhete Único, and a standalone Metro ticket also costs R$ 5.00 (2024 rate). Lines 4 and 5 run under public-private partnerships; 1, 2, 3 and 15 stay with the state-owned Companhia do Metropolitano (METRÔ-SP).

Applications

Commuters weigh one route against another (Line 3 or Line 4 to Sé, say). Real-estate listings brag about being a short walk from a particular station. Tourists sketch out sightseeing days, and urban planners lean on station-to-station times when they model transit-oriented development around Pinheiros, Faria Lima and Vila Prudente.

FAQ

How long is the average dwell time at a station? Figure 25–35 seconds off-peak, climbing to 50 seconds at packed interchanges like Sé, República or Luz during rush hour.

Do transfers between lines add extra walking time? They do. Count on 3 to 7 minutes for cross-platform transfers (Paraíso 1↔2, for instance) and up to 10 minutes at multi-level stations (Luz 1↔4↔CPTM).

Is Line 4-Yellow really driverless? It is. ViaQuatro runs it with CBTC signaling and unattended train operation (UTO), which is what lets it hit 90-second headways and put platform screen doors at every station.